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The Innocents (1961) N
A woman is hired to govern two young children in a large country mansion somewhere outside London. Children's peculiar behavior and the dark events in the mansion's recent past soon convince her that something foul and supernatural is going on. She must save the children from the evil that haunts the place.
On paper everything should be fine with The Innocents; solid cast, great setting, traditional Gothic ghost story and a fitting black-and-white presentation. But somehow it barely falls short on every one of these. In addition it doesn't manage to be creepy or suspenseful at all which is kinda bad for a horror film.
The house itself looks terrific but I don't think it's utilized nearly to its full potential. There are occasional shots and scenes that look great but too often it's just a little bland. Same with acting; the children are very good but Kerr is again just a little off and basically feels like she's acting. The story, as it's told to us, gets weaker the more we know (more about this later) and the hints of something more daring and perverse are in the end just brushed away.
The best thing in the story is its ambivalence, how in the end the viewer can't be sure if the haunting is real or the governess has just lost her mind (this is based on one viewing, maybe there are hints one way or another when one knows to look). The children are easily the best characters in the film and the only thing that has some positive creepiness and weirdness. I was disappointed by the ghostly possession theme as I was hoping that the malevolence would have come from Miles and Flora themselves.
All of the above sounds terribly negative but it's just me focusing on the bad stuff. As a whole The Innocents doesn't miss good rating by much. Based on its reputation it was a disappointment but it belongs to upper end of mediocrity.
A woman is hired to govern two young children in a large country mansion somewhere outside London. Children's peculiar behavior and the dark events in the mansion's recent past soon convince her that something foul and supernatural is going on. She must save the children from the evil that haunts the place.
On paper everything should be fine with The Innocents; solid cast, great setting, traditional Gothic ghost story and a fitting black-and-white presentation. But somehow it barely falls short on every one of these. In addition it doesn't manage to be creepy or suspenseful at all which is kinda bad for a horror film.
The house itself looks terrific but I don't think it's utilized nearly to its full potential. There are occasional shots and scenes that look great but too often it's just a little bland. Same with acting; the children are very good but Kerr is again just a little off and basically feels like she's acting. The story, as it's told to us, gets weaker the more we know (more about this later) and the hints of something more daring and perverse are in the end just brushed away.
The best thing in the story is its ambivalence, how in the end the viewer can't be sure if the haunting is real or the governess has just lost her mind (this is based on one viewing, maybe there are hints one way or another when one knows to look). The children are easily the best characters in the film and the only thing that has some positive creepiness and weirdness. I was disappointed by the ghostly possession theme as I was hoping that the malevolence would have come from Miles and Flora themselves.
All of the above sounds terribly negative but it's just me focusing on the bad stuff. As a whole The Innocents doesn't miss good rating by much. Based on its reputation it was a disappointment but it belongs to upper end of mediocrity.